Sensex, Nifty stare at weak opening on Thursday; these factors will sway market sentiment today

Investors must continue to remain stock specific and use the accumulation strategy for the time being

Domestic equity market benchmarks BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 are staring at a gap-down opening on Thursday following weak global cues. In the previous session, Indian share market clocked gains for the third straight day, as broader markets outperformed the benchmarks. Market investors will continue to watch stock-specific action, corporate earnings, oil prices and other global developments. Analysts suggest that gains in Indian equities were led on the expectation of normalisation of business supported by government measures, in a post covid-19 scenario. “Investors must continue to remain stock specific and use the accumulation strategy for the time being,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

SGX Nifty down 150 points: Trends in SGX Nifty signals at a weak opening for BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 on Thursday. Nifty futures were trading down 145.50 points or 1.27 per cent at 11,282.50 in early trade on Singaporean Exchange.

US Federal Reserve policy minutes: US Fed policy minutes showed the central bank is considering tweaks to monetary policy that could result in it sticking with aggressive stimulus measures far longer than under its previous rubric. The minutes also showed policymakers concerned that a recovery from the economic downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic faces a highly uncertain path, according to a Reuters report.

World Bank to project growth contraction for India: World Bank on Wednesday said that it is likely to project a steeper contraction for India’s GDP in the current fiscal. It also cautioned India against using its tariff policy to attract the firms that want to shift base from China. The World Bank suggested full privatisation of some public sector banks and private capital injections in some other sectors after the market conditions improve.

Corporate earnings: A total of 58 companies including HealthCare Global Enterprises, MOIL, Indian Overseas Bank, J Kumar Infraprojects, IRB InvIT Fund, Madhucon Projects, McDowell Holdings, Metalyst Forgings, and Valecha Engineering, etc will announce their quarterly earnings later in the day today.

Global markets: Asian stock markets were trading lower in Thursday session. South Korean Kospi dropped 2.59 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1.52 per cent. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.73 per cent while the Topix index shed 0.59 per cent. In overnight trade on Wall Streer, US stocks edged lower. Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.31 per cent lower, the S&P 500 lost 0.44 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.57 per cent.